Recent Posts
Few female MCs have proven as influential as the illustrious Missy Elliott. With five platinum albums, numerous Grammys and an image defying hip-hop’s beauty standards, this woman is a living legend.
Born in Portsmouth, Virginia, Missy’s early years were wrought with torment; she faced molestation at the age of eight and witnessed her father abuse her mother. These traumas at an early age prompted Elliot to solicit inspiration from stars like Michael and Janet Jackson.
It wasn’t until she was a teenager, after her father pulled a gun on them, that Elliott and her mother ultimately left. To cope, Missy found solace in music and her faith. “You have to find some kind of peace. I believe in a higher being, and that gives me faith to be strong and go on,” she told People in 2003. It is perhaps this frame of mind that has catalyzed her successful career and long-awaited comeback.
Her early work with singer and producer Timbaland catapulted her first album, “Supa Dupa Fly,” to the top of the charts in 1997. This success spurred a groundbreaking new sound that still has a major impact on hip hop today.
An unstoppable force up until 2006, Elliott admits that her decade-long hiatus from recording was much longer than she expected. However, she asserts, “it was much-needed,” she says via Billboard.
“People hadn’t realized that I haven’t just been an artist, I’ve been a writer and a producer for other artists. When you’re writing that much, your brain is like a computer. You have to refresh it.”
Her hiatus also gave her time to cope with a diagnosis of Graves’ disease, an autoimmune disorder affecting the thyroid. “It causes hair loss, your eyes bulge,” she says. “My blood pressure was always up from just overworking.”
Her recent work has been well worth the wait. From her legendary performance with Katy Perry at the 2014 Superbowl halftime show to her collaboration with artists like Les Twins and Pharrell to her cameo on “Carpool Karaoke” with James Cordon and Michelle Obama, it’s no secret that Missy is now more ready than ever to make her way back to the top of the charts.
Her upcoming album is expected to be released in 2016, but Elliott says, “I don’t want to give a time. Nowadays you say a time, they’ll stone you.”
If her latest video, “WTF”, is any indication, Missy continues to be the creative powerhouse that we’ve been craving since she stepped out of the spotlight. Since then, female MCs like Nicki Minaj and Iggy Azalea have been at the forefront, and Missy has been very vocal about the need for more women in the rap game.
As for those who have been influenced by her, well, she has a few words to say about that: “There is only one Missy.”
